Creating Snapshot Sets

A snapshot is a logical image of a source virtual volume at a particular point in time. The relationship between the source virtual volume and the destination virtual volume (or snapshot copy) is called a snapshot set or relationship.  This topic covers guidelines to use when creating snapshot source and destination virtual volumes and instructions for creating a snapshot set. For a step-by-step guide to configuring and using Snapshot, refer to Getting Started with Snapshot.

Notes on Creating Snapshot Sets

  • For information about valid snapshot configurations, refer to Supported Snapshot Set Configurations.

  • The maximum number of snapshot relationships that can exist simultaneously is 1024.

  • The source and destination virtual volumes of a snapshot set must be from the same storage server. You can also have a single source and multiple destinations, as long as all volumes are from the same storage server.

  • A virtual volume can be designated as the source volume of one snapshot set and the destination volume of another snapshot set, but these snapshot sets cannot be enabled at the same time.

  • Snapshot sets cannot be duplicated; meaning two sets with the same source and destination virtual volumes.

  • Destination virtual volumes must be at least as large as the source and must be unmapped when creating the set. The destination virtual volume will be automatically logically resized to the same size as the source when a set is created.

  • Using dynamic volumes for both source and destination in a set allows for performance optimization.

  • To modify or delete a snapshot set, refer to Modifying Snapshot Sets or Deleting Snapshot Sets.

 

Follow these steps to create a snapshot set:

  1. Open SANmanager and select the Snapshot tab.

  2. Expand the SDS folder in the upper-left pane and select the storage server where you want to create the snapshot copy. A list of candidate snapshot virtual volumes appears in the upper-right pane.

  1. From the list, drag the virtual volume you want to designate as the source to the Snapshot Sets folder for the matching storage server in the lower-left pane.  A snapshot set is created, as illustrated by a camera icon that appears under the Snapshot Sets folder next to the name. A snapshot relationship number is created and the virtual volume is assigned as the source of the newly-created set, as displayed in the lower-right pane.

  1. On the same storage server and from the same list, select another virtual volume as the destination of the set and drag it to the snapshot set created in Step 3. The virtual volume designated as the destination of  the set now appears in the lower-right pane.

  1. Apply the configuration.

Creating Snapshot Sets